Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne has decided to initiate an investigation into private hospitals and laboratories for violating the Health Ministry instructions to reduce the charges for blood tests until the end of the dengue epidemic.
The Health Ministry recently informed private hospitals to reduce charges for blood tests to identify dengue fever.
Accordingly, the Health Ministry informed private hospitals that charges for a Full Blood Count Test should be Rs.250 and a Dengue Antigen Test Rs.1,000.
Earlier,a Full Blood Count Test cost a patient Rs.500 and a Dengue Antigen test cost Rs. 3,000.
However,the Health Ministry has received a number of complaints from the patients that some private hospitals charge higher amounts for the dengue blood tests than ones specified by the ministry.
Accordingly, the Health Minister has decided to commence an investigation taking into consideration the complaints received from the public.
The Health Ministry in a statement also statesthe order to reduce dengue blood tests by private hospitals will be valid until further notice.
“Health Services Director General Dr. Jayasundera Bandara and Private Medical Services Development Unit Director Kanthi Ariyaratne have informed the Private Hospitals Association of the ministry order,” the Health Ministry statement added.
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